Revealed: FBI Violated Its Own Rules While Spying on Keystone XL Opponents

Excerpt: "The FBI breached its own internal rules
when it spied on campaigners against the Keystone XL pipeline, failing to get
approval before it cultivated informants and opened files on individuals
protesting against the construction of the pipeline in Texas, documents
reveal."

Revealed: FBI Violated Its Own Rules While Spying on
Keystone XL Opponents

By
Paul Lewis and Adam Federman, Guardian UK

12 May 15

Houston investigation amounted
to 'substantial non-compliance' of rules. Internal memo labels pipeline
opponents as 'environmental extremists'. FBI failed to get approval before it
opened files on protesters in Texas

The FBI breached its own internal rules when it spied
on campaigners against the Keystone XL pipeline,
failing to get approval before it cultivated informants and opened files on
individuals protesting against the construction of the pipeline in Texas,
documents reveal.

Internal agency documents show for the first time how FBI agents have been closely monitoring
anti-Keystone activists, in violation of guidelines designed to prevent the
agency from becoming unduly involved in sensitive political issues.

The hugely contentious Keystone XL pipeline, which is
awaiting approval from the Obama administration, would transport tar sands
oil from Canada to the Texas Gulf coast.

It has been strongly opposed for years by a coalition
of environmental groups, including some involved in nonviolent civil
disobedience who have been monitored by federal law enforcement agencies.

The documents reveal that one FBI investigation, run
from its Houston field office, amounted to "substantial
non-compliance" of Department of Justice rules that govern how the agency
should handle sensitive matters.

One FBI memo, which set out the rationale for
investigating campaigners in the Houston area, touted the economic advantages
of the pipeline while labelling its opponents "environmental
extremists".

An FBI memo detailing 'non-compliance' by the Houston
field office. (photo: Guardian)

"Many of these extremists believe the debates
over pollution, protection of wildlife, safety, and property rights have been
overshadowed by the promise of jobs and cheaper oil prices," the FBI
document states. "The Keystone pipeline, as part of the oil and natural
gas industry, is vital to the security and economy of the United States."

The documents are among more than 80 pages of
previously confidential FBI files obtained by the Guardian and Earth Island
Journal after a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Between November 2012 and June 2014, the documents
show, the FBI collated inside knowledge about forthcoming protests, documented
the identities of individuals photographing oil-related infrastructure,
scrutinised police intelligence and cultivated at least one informant.

It is unclear whether the source or sources were
protesters-turned-informants, private investigators or hackers. One source is
referred to in the documents as having had "good access and a history of
reliable reporting".

The FBI investigation targeted Tar Sands Blockade, a
direct action group that was at the time campaigning in southern Texas.

However, the partially redacted documents reveal the
investigation into anti-Keystone activists occurred without prior approval of
the top lawyer and senior agent in the Houston field office, a stipulation laid
down in rules provided by the attorney general.

Confronted by evidence contained in the cache of
documents, the agency admitted that "FBI approval levels required by
internal policy were not initially obtained" for the investigation, but
said the failure was remedied and later reported internally.

The FBI files appear to suggest the Houston branch of
the investigation was opened in early 2013, several months after a high-level
strategy meeting between the agency and TransCanada, the company building the
pipeline.

For a period of time – possibly as long as eight
months – agents acting beyond their authority were monitoring activists aligned
with Tar Sands Blockade.

Tar Sands Blockade appeared on the FBI's radar in late
2012, not long after the group began organising in east Houston, the end
destination for Keystone's 1,660-mile pipeline.

Environmental activists affiliated with the group were
committed to peaceful civil disobedience that can involve minor infractions of
law, such as trespass. But they had no history of violent or serious crime.

Ron Seifert, a key organiser at Tar Sands Blockade,
said dozens of campaigners were arrested in Texas for protest-related activity
around that time, but not one of them was accused of violent crime or property
destruction.

The group focused on Houston's heavily industrialised
neighbourhood of Manchester, where the Valero Energy Corporation has a massive
refinery capable of processing heavy crude oil.

Between early November 2012 and June 2014, the
documents show, the FBI collated inside-knowledge about forthcoming protests,
documented the identities of individuals photographing oil-related
infrastructure, scrutinised police intelligence and cultivated at least one
informant.

It is unclear whether the source or sources were protesters-turned-informants,
private investigators or hackers. One source is referred to in the documents as
having had "good access, and a history of reliable reporting".

At one point, the FBI's Houston office said it would
share with TransCanada "any pertinent intelligence regarding any
threats" to the company in advance of a forthcoming protest.

One of the files refers to Houston police officers who
stopped two men and a woman taking photographs near the city's industrial port,
noting they were using a "large and sophisticated looking" camera.

Two of the individuals were described as having larger
subject files in the FBI's Guardian Threat Tracking System.

In another incident, the license plate belonging to a
Silver Dodge was dutifully entered into the FBI's database, after a
"source" spotted the driver and another man photographing a building
associated with TransCanada.

Sensitive matters

The FBI rules, laid out in the FBI's Domestic Investigations and
Operations Guide, dictate that special care should be taken over
sensitive investigations such as those targeting elected officials, journalists
and political organisations.

FBI work on "sensitive investigative
matters" requires prior approval of both the chief division counsel (CDC),
the top lawyer in the field office, and the special agent in charge (SAC).

Both are supposed to consider the severity of the
threat and the consequences of "adverse impact on civil liberties and
public confidence" should the investigation be made public.

However, neither Houston's CDC or SAC were consulted
in relation to the FBI's monitoring of Tar Sands Blockade activists, the
documents show.

Explaining the breach of protocols, the FBI said in a
statement that it was committed to "act properly under the law".

"While the FBI approval levels required by
internal policy were not initially obtained, once discovered, corrective action
was taken, non-compliance was remedied, and the oversight was properly reported
through the FBI's internal oversight mechanism," it said.

The FBI did not deny opening an investigation into
anti-Keystone campaigners, and said it was compelled to "take the
initiative to secure and protect activities and entities which may be targeted
for terrorism or espionage".

But the precise nature of the FBI's investigation,
which continued for almost a year after the Houston Division acknowledged it
had violated protocol, remains unclear.

The documents appear to suggest the investigation was
one branch of a wider set of investigations, possibly including anti-Keystone
activists elsewhere in the country.

The documents connect the investigation into
anti-Keystone activists to other "domestic terrorism issues" in the
agency and show there was some liaison with the local FBI "assistant
weapons of mass destruction coordinator".

Mike German, a former FBI agent, who assisted the
Guardian in deciphering the bureau's documentation, said they indicated the
agency had opened a category of investigation that is known in agency parlance
as an "assessment".

Introduced as part of an expansion of FBI powers after
9/11, assessments allow agents to open intrusive investigations into
individuals or groups, even if they have no reason to believe they are breaking
the law.

German, now a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice
in New York, said the documents also raised questions over collusion between
law enforcement and TransCanada.

"It is clearly troubling that these documents
suggest the FBI interprets its national security mandate as protecting private
industry from political criticism," he said.

According to the FBI documents, the FBI concluded
there were "no adverse consequences" emanating from its failure to
seek approval for the sensitive investigation, noting the mistake was later
"remedied".

The investigation continued for 11 months after the
mistake was spotted. It was closed after the FBI's Houston division
acknowledged its failure to find sufficient evidence of "extremist
activity".

Before closing the case, however, agents noted the
existence of a file that was to be used as a repository for future intelligence
"regarding the Keystone XL pipeline".

Since then, at least a dozen anti-tar sands
campaigners in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho have been contacted by the FBI.
The agency has said they are not under investigation.

"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs